


if love is a labor, i'll slave to the end

by towokuwusatsuwu



Category: Death Note, Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Live Action TV), Death Note (Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - No Shinigami, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Explicit Consent, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Fictional Religion & Theology, Healing, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Other, Past Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Relationship Discussions, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Trans Character, Werewolf Mates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-30 06:11:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8521516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towokuwusatsuwu/pseuds/towokuwusatsuwu
Summary: When Sakura Aoi returns home, she finds herself just in time for the semi-annual mating ceremony. Never one to set down stakes anywhere, she is uncertain of how to feel, even after she finds her perfect match in quiet and withdrawn Yuki Shien. Instead, she finds herself throwing everything she has into helping the pack that took her back in without question stay together as the mating ritual throws everything into disarray. Unlikely match-ups cause tension to form between friends and family both. The gods might believe they know exactly what they are doing, but Sakura finds herself uncertain with her pack on the threat of implosion and snakes in the grass slithering in from all sides.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So! First Death Note fic after something like five years. I give all of the credit to the TV series, the New Generation episodes, and Light Up The New World for inspiring me. That being said, I want to preface this chapter with a couple quick notes to make this all run a little more smoothly.
> 
> This is a weird mash-up of the characters from the television drama and the characters from the live action films, as both take place in their own separate canons. I also borrowed our favorite three successors from the manga. I kept certain things from each one. Many of the characters are borrowed from the drama, as I really like the characterization, but not Near and Mello, as they remain separate entities. Also, Shiori and the new characters from Light Up The New World.
> 
> There are no Shinigami in this, at least, not in the way you think they exist, as you will see in this chapter. There is no Kira. This takes place in an entirely different run of events.
> 
> This is just a short introduction to a selection of the main characters. I promise ALL of the ships I tagged will be heavily touched up on rather than just a few. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! I know I've enjoyed writing this, and I hope you enjoy reading it, too. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments!

Sakura Aoi would have never come home. She has time to think about this on the flight, restless in the small space, confined. It isn’t natural for her kind to be confined, and a restless Alpha on a flight full of mostly humans perturbs the man sitting next to her enough that he requests to be moved to another seat. She gets a whole three seats to herself, almost unheard of, but she makes the most of it, changing seats when she gets too settled in one of them.

 

She hasn’t been back in Japan for nearly six years. It would have been six next month, but no doubt using his police connections, her pack’s Alpha had sought her out to let her know her grandmother had passed away. There was no indication in the letter that Sakura had to come home, or that her parents wanted her home. There did not need to be.

 

She sighs and rakes a hand through her hair, catching the long black strands in the ends of her fingers and twisting them to give herself something to do. Six long years away from home.

 

If this letter had never come, she doubts she would have ever gone back.

 

Her feet have touched most of the continents in the world and her time spent abroad has only reassured her that she was correct in her assumptions her parents were wrong to try to force her into any one box. Those years have also reminded her that her culture made it difficult for her parents to do anything but that, and even as her parents’ generation continued to be stubborn, her generation was capable of change. From a distance, she watched Japan change and flourish.

 

During her childhood, her grandmother had been there for her, had served as a buffer between her and her parents when her behavior grew too willful and their patience with her grew thin. When she turned eighteen and could legally leave her pack without anyone stepping in to stop her, her grandmother even assisted her with procuring a passport and enough money to fly to America where she intended to meet up with an old friend and try to start over.

 

The fact she never knew her grandmother was ill, of course, is solely her fault.

 

She refused to contact her family, refused to tell them where she was, and refused to keep up with any sort of correspondence when her grandmother called her to tell her they wanted to write to her. As time passed and as she grew more and more restless in each place she tried to make home, it became harder to keep up with any correspondence at all. Even phone calls.

 

Sakura drums her fingers on the armrest of her current seat, her nose twitching and taking in the scents of mainly humans around her. Only a few of her kind are on this flight.

 

All of them are Betas. She wonders what her back has been up to since her absence.

 

She wonders where she can stay, as well. Her presence in Japan will cause a stir among her pack, but staying with her parents is out of the question. She cannot possibly stomach it.

 

Sighing, she squeezes her eyes shut and pinches the bridge of her nose. Tells herself to breathe in, slow and deep, to keep herself from getting worked up over things.

 

Maybe Soichiro Yagami will be able to find her a place to stay.

 

* * *

 

The keys are smooth and familiar beneath his fingers as he focuses his eyes on the screen, his lower lip caught between his teeth as he reaches for a world that is not his own and does his best to understand the pulses that radiate through his very being. Many over the years have asked him what it’s like to commune with the goddess Ama on such a regular basis, but Yuki Shien has never had a proper answer for them. After all, it isn’t his place. He simply communes with her and tries his best to understand, to bond the names that flash before his eyes on his three monitors.

 

No one in Japan has his skill. That, he knows. While his fellow colleagues here in Tokyo have their own sets of skills, none of them have the scope and the access that he does. Many assumed that makes him a special Omega, a special child of Ama, that she speaks so freely through him.

 

He pauses, retrieves a chip from his bag, pops it into his mouth, and keeps going.

 

Hundreds of names, hundreds of subtle pulses he reads more clearly than he reads common words.

 

It would be wrong to do anything but strive to be the best reader he can be.

 

No one had thought he could get this far, and this he keeps at the forefront of his mind every day when he comes to work. It is a subtle reminder that he has exceeded all of the expectations that were set for him by people who worked with troubled children. It also serves as a reminder that he is the only one who can set his own glass ceiling, and he is the only one who can break it. Ama has blessed him in such a way, that he can pair up the names before him, that his connection to the gods of his kind is so strong that he can help his fellow kind in such a way.

 

He pauses to stretch, arms above his head, back arched to work the small kinks out of his spine. He has been here for two years now, and in two years he has worked more quickly and more accurately to bring the Alphas, Betas, and Omegas of the werewolf world together. Having seen his parents murdered in front of him, having been traumatized at such a young age, he had reached out to Ama in an attempt to understand the tragedy befallen him, and in her own way, she had answered. He had been set aside from the rest and given a gift to bring joy and wholeness to his kind; it eventually drove the nightmares away, and slowly, he healed.

 

This is fulfilling to him. The monotony of the keys clacking beneath his fingers, his eyes flicking over the names, interpreting Ama’s cues to him so that he can match the names. They won’t be properly paired until December, of course, and the letters will not be sent out until November. It gives him enough time to double check his work to ensure he makes no mistakes.

 

In the past, mistakes have been made. People have been hurt. He doesn’t want to do that.

 

People have asked him over the years if it bothers him that he has to work so hard when his mate has still not made themself known. Most would be upset, and he knows those who wait nearly their entire lives before the proper match is finally made. Some don’t find their mates until they leave their home country. For all he knows, his mate could be millions of miles away.

 

Yuki pops another chip into his mouth. Ama will watch over him. Of that, he is certain.

 

* * *

 

As soon as the performance is over, Misa leaves the stage, pulling her hair out of her now-familiar ponytails and rolling her shoulders to work the stiffness out of them. She’s sore. Performing takes a lot out of her, after all, even as an Alpha, and she tends to put her all into her performances. Seeing her fans, making them happy, appeals to her on a base level as well as a personal level and she can’t be convinced to stop. It also gives her license to travel as much as possible, and she can’t shrug off the hope she might meet her mate somewhere out there in the world.

 

She retrieves a bottle of water from the bucket of ice in her dressing room and sits down heavily in a chair, downing half of the bottle without stopping. The fact she hasn’t found her mate yet hardly deters her; they are out there  _ somewhere _ and she will not stop looking until she finds them.

 

Being back in Japan feels good, though. Being home always feels good, and being back with her pack feels better than ever. The Yagami pack has grown since she was last here, has grown into the largest and most powerful back in Japan, and she’s honored to be a member.

 

More, she’s honored to carry their crest with her at all times. She’s a representative of her pack no matter where she goes, so she does her utmost to make her family and friends proud of her.

 

Her dressing door room cracks open, her agent’s voice echoing in the room while he does his best not to look in on her. Privacy, of course. “Are you onboard with doing an encore performance?”

 

Misa perks up at the question. During the warmer months of the year, encores are expected because the fans can stand the heat far more than they can the cold. With fall having bloomed in full in Japan, the chilly air tends to chase more people away. The fact her fans are willing to stay out in the cold a little longer if it means an encore makes her feel euphoric.

 

“Did you check with the band first?” she asks. After all, they happen to be humans.

 

“Of course,” her agent reassures her. “They’re more than happy to play a few more songs.”

 

She finishes the bottle of water and tosses the empty plastic into her trashcan, reaching for her collection of elastic bands and fixing her hair back the way it was. A quick glance in the mirror and a reapplication of her favorite strawberry lip gloss, and she’s ready to go.

 

“Tell them I’ll be out in just a minute,” she says, wanting to keep the fans on edge.

 

She can hear the smile in her agent’s voice. “Of course, Miss Amane.”

 

For a minute or two, she limbers up, works the stiffness out of her muscles so she can walk back out there and dance. Few people realize how much physical exertion she puts herself through.

 

When she glances in the mirror once again, her eyes have shifted to a familiar molten gold and she smiles, the grin a little closer to a predatory expression than anything else. With a quick kiss blown to the ceiling, she exits her dressing room and hurries back to the stage. After all, she always wants to send her fans home happy even if she’s a little sore for the effort.

 

* * *

 

Light comes home late from the concert, exhausted to his very core but feeling better for it as he does his best to tiptoe upstairs. His ears are still ringing and his chest is sore from the deep bass seeming to vibrate in his chest, but that’s what he gets for being in the second row.

 

He throws himself across his bed with a quiet groan, burying his face in his pillow, smiling deliriously despite himself. For an Omega, he’s quieter and more withdrawn than most, and has been told this all of his life. So it had been surprising to him that when he first attended one of Misa’s concerts with his friends, he was affected by her as much as he was.

 

Giggling softly, he hugs his pillow to his chest and rolls onto his back, staring up at his ceiling. The exhaustion he’ll no doubt feel in the morning will be worth it. The concert will be worth it.

 

Idly, he makes a mental note to thank Kamoda  _ again _ for the excellent tickets he’d procured.

 

The two of them have always been fans, ever since Misa more or less made history by being the first Alpha woman to put forth a brand of bubblegum pop and cuteness no one ever has.

 

If Light is honest with himself, he  _ still _ thinks Kamoda was more interested in Shiori Akino than he was Misa, but Light doesn’t blame him. Misa might be their pack, but she’s wildly unattainable, more of a fantasy than anything else. Shiori lives just down the street and walks them to school every morning, taking seriously the idea that she needs to do her best to protect them since both of them are unmated Omegas. Light doesn’t mind; she’s been one of his best friends since childhood.

 

The high from Misa’s concert doesn’t really fade enough for him to sleep, so he heads to his desk and opens his laptop to do a little bit of late night studying. It was something his mom would have been proud of him for doing, after all; Sachiko Yagami had been firm that Light should work hard to achieve whatever dreams he wanted to reach for. The progress that his generation had made ensured he had a wide variety of possible careers to choose from, though he’d more or less settled on the idea of helping to rehabilitate youths who were abused, traumatized, or otherwise in need of guidance. He’s always been good with kids, or so he’s been told.

 

It’s because of Sayu, he reasons. He tries not to hold it against his father that Soichiro has been in the office more than he’s been at home, but it’s still true, and that left Light more or less raising his younger sister by himself. He doesn’t mind, truly he doesn’t, but the point still stands.

 

Maybe he can make that work for himself, though. Sayu had been just as upset by their mother passing away, and Light was able to help her through it. Maybe he can help others, too.

 

He spends the next hour or so on his laptop, his nose buried in his textbooks, making hurried notes that he’ll decipher and organize in the morning. If he spends that hour humming and tapping his foot or his eraser to the rhythm of his favorite selection of Misa’s songs, well, there’s nobody around to hear it but him.

 

* * *

 

Ryuzaki tries not to let the rattle of the pill bottle grow too loud in the room, examining the screens in front of him as he takes his nightly medication with a swig of water.

 

He’s making a habit out of these late nights, and he knows L isn’t happy about it.

 

It’s part of his recovery, he reasons with himself, wrapping his hand around the pendant around his throat as he clicks through a series of reports, looking for any buzzwords. It’s been a maddeningly slow process, but he can now stand in the same room with Alphas without feeling the need to search for escape, and he can sleep through the night without nightmares. He can’t remove his physical scars, but he’s been doing significant work to remove the psychological ones.

 

Sighing, he rakes a hand through his hair and leans back in his chair, seizing a pen on his desk, tapping it against his lips in thought as he reads the reports he’s not opened up. Detective work has been a balm for his wounds, unexpectedly. L was right to recommend him for this position.

 

It doesn’t change the fact that seeing his own abuse mirrored in similar cases across the country doesn’t addle him from time to time. He can’t shake it all off at once.

 

Three years, to be completely clear, but even three years isn’t that much time.

 

A particular snippet of information catches his eye and he runs with it, the legal pad beside his keyboard filled with information within minutes that he quickly condenses and sends to L via an email server not even the best hackers in the world could crack. A birthday present from Matt and an endlessly useful one, Ryuzaki has gotten more mileage from it than he ever expected. He really did happen to fall in with the right group of people when he’d finally been found.

 

Again, his hand moves to the pendant at his throat. It had been a gift because his had been taken from him when he had been in confinement. A gift from the police officer who found him, whose impeccable sense of smell had picked him up even under heavy scent blockers, a dose that was nearly heavy enough to be lethal. A pendant of Ama. He is still convinced she kept him safe.

 

Most scoff at the idea. He knows L does, that L believes more in logic and science than anything else. He believes in the tangible, but Ryuzaki still holds true to the belief. He’d reached out to Ama, and she had sent someone who had the particular skill needed to find him.

 

He and L email back and forth for a good hour, neither of them willing to resort to verbal communication this late at night. After he’d joined L’s group of successors, he had found a slice of peace in solving crimes and bringing justice to those so often denied it. L has access to the smartest minds in the world and Ryuzaki is honored to be one of them. He’s also determined to prove his usefulness in one way or another to the man who gave him a new lease on life.

 

By the time he falls into sleep, the sun is already peeking above the horizon.

 

* * *

 

By the time Tsukuru Mishima returns home, he’s hours late and exhausted to the very core of his being. Still, he’s awake enough to make a cup of tea and force a sandwich down his throat. The volume of work needed to crack this case meant he skipped two meals in a row, a stupid choice.

 

It takes every part of his willpower to resist the urge to check his phone for messages. If he had been needed by the detective he’s tied to, then he would have been made known.

 

Part of him just wants to call to make sure the Omega was in bed where he should be at seven fifteen in the morning. After all, he’s been staying up later, and occasionally that’s resulted in half-asleep phone calls between the two of them, both too tired to just go to sleep.

 

He smiles at the thought. Fellow colleagues have teased him about the Omega he’s “besotted” with but he’d never do any such thing without express permission. It isn’t his place to look at Ryuzaki as any more than a colleague, and perhaps on a good day, a friend.

 

Still, he checks his phone just the same, relieved to see he hasn’t missed any messages.

 

He ignores feeling put-out that Ryuzaki hasn’t tried to contact him. After all, he was at work, and his job is important. It’s better when it isn’t interrupted, when he can crack cases in peace.

 

Sighing, he takes his cup of tea to the living room and sits down on the couch, propping his socked feet up on the table and taking a soothing sip. Where Ryuzaki is concerned, Mishima is never going to be able to shake the protective feelings he has toward the Omega. It has little to do with being an Alpha, as no other Omega stirs such feelings in him, but the circumstances that brought them together engraved in him a need to make sure Ryuzaki was safe. Ryuzaki has spent a good long time humoring his behavior, and Mishima is never not grateful for it.

 

He covers his hand with a mouth, stifling a yawn, which means he needs to finish his tea and go to bed. He has time to rest, now, and maybe time to talk to Ryuzaki when he’s had some rest.

 

Sighing, he pushes himself to his feet and heads for his room, rubbing fatigue from his eyes.

 

The bed looks more inviting than it ever has before. He has to stop pushing himself so hard.

 

He still makes sure to take the time to carefully remove the pendant from around his throat, setting it carefully in its honored spot on his nightstand. After he had given Ryuzaki the pendant of Ama, Ryuzaki has reciprocated by giving him a pendant of Rem, the goddess of Alphas.

 

_ Protection, _ he’d claimed even when Mishima tried to say it was unnecessary.  _ For my peace of mind. _

 

For Ryuzaki’s peace of mind, there are few things he wouldn’t do.

 

He’s starting to see why so many people make comments about them.

 

* * *

 

Soichiro checks on Light before he goes to bed. He’d heard his son return from the concert and head to his bedroom hours ago, but he still checks on him. Seeing Light asleep in bed, face smoothed out and peaceful, relaxes him. He steals into the room to tuck Light’s comforter around him a little more firmly, kisses the top of his head, and leaves him be.

 

While Light sleeps peacefully, Sayu tosses and turns in her sleep, muttering to herself, already growing into a restless young Alpha that reminds him of a certain niece of his. He shakes his head, leaves her to her nighttime mutterings, and heads back to his own bedroom.

 

His wife had passed away years ago, and he still hasn’t shaken how lonely his bed feels without her in it. Never in a million years could he have pictured this happening.

 

Sighing, he sits on the side of the bed, scrubs his hands over his face.

 

No one would blame him if he chose another partner, this he knows. He and Sachiko were never formally mated, after all; neither of them cared to wait, and none of their pack had looked down on it. After all, finding your true mate was considered rare. Choosing a partner was not stigmatized.

 

He just doesn’t know if he could ever go through with loving anybody else.

 

There’s also the small matter of the fact he can’t shake the responsibility he feels toward her death. After all, he hadn’t been there when she passed away. He knows, logically, that once she reached critical condition, little could be done. Their kind have a knack for healing but she had suffered far too much to recover from, and if it got critical, it was pretty much over before it began. But he still hadn’t come. Maybe she could have pulled through with him next to her.

 

In the daylight, he knows that foolish thought for what it is. Still, he can’t shake it at night when he’s faced with the knowledge that she hasn’t laid in this bed for years.

 

He’s just glad he’s managed to repair his relationship with Light. It had been strained for years, because Light blamed him, too, and Light has always been sensitive, felt stronger than most. Working with Matsuda so much had given Soichiro an insight into that he hadn’t had before.

 

He’s used that insight to patch up his relationship with his son to the best of his ability. He’s tried to be at home more often, to be here for both of his children. Just having him around more has helped them, he’s sure of it, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to do more and more each day.

 

Maybe that’s why he reached out to Sakura when her family was otherwise disinterested.

 

He removes his wristwatch and the wedding band he has never been able to tell himself to stop wearing, leaving them on his nightstand before he gets ready for bed.

 

November is coming soon, just around the corner. He can’t begin to imagine what he’ll do if his son finally receives a letter in the mail to inform him he has a mate.

 

After all, some parents have described feeling an  _ itch, _ a knowing when their children are about to be mated off. Soichiro can’t swear this is the same, but he thinks it is.

 

He never received that letter, and he did just fine for himself. Not in a million years would he trade Sachiko and their years together for anyone else, trade his children for anyone else. But he still hopes in his heart that Light is able to find that perfect mate meant for him. It’s the least he can hope for his son, the least he can do for a child he almost failed.

 

* * *

 

L is awake. It’s almost morning and he hasn’t been able to calm his mind enough to sleep.

 

He has a series of cases currently going and has invested much time and energy into each of them, solving two of them during the night. His skills have been honed into deadly points over the years and he prides himself on what he can do as a result. But still, his mind stirs. He rakes a hand through his hair and double checks his calendar to make sure that he isn’t scheduled to start soon even though he knows his heat isn’t for another two weeks. While there are factors that can cause an Omega’s heat to start earlier or later, his has been like clockwork since he’s had them. It’s been a boon in scheduling his case work around them so they never interfere.

 

_ What, _ then? He knows he’s been mentally restless the last couple of days, but he can’t quite pinpoint what that can be, and he knows Watari is starting to pick up on it.

 

Sighing, he picks up the bowl of strawberries sitting on his desk, popping one into his mouth and chewing as he picks at the many factors that might keep him up more than usual.

 

_ You know what it is, _ he thinks, casting a glance over his shoulder at the array of objects scattered across the floor and the couch, remnants of his current guests.

 

He almost never calls them, but they’re pack. They’re home. And he’d wanted them here.

 

A few scattered toys, a half-eaten bar of chocolate, a charging Nintendo 3DS XL.

 

Near, Mello, and Matt have been pegged as his successors for years, and while tradition would have them not as close as they are, tradition had been set aside in favor of their pack-like relationship with one another. It’s more fluid than most, as there is no Alpha, and L would never consider himself to be their Alpha wolf in the first place. He isn’t fit to lead anyone.

 

But being around them so much has solidified the fact that their mating back in England was not the mistake the three of them insisted it was. Lord knows the gods had made strange choices in the past, but even L had been taken aback at the idea of Mello and Near getting along well enough to make a long-lasting relationship with each other, even with Matt there to play mediator when their banter became less about joking and more about hurting. Having them here has proven that the three of them can work well together, better together than anyone thought.

 

L, despite not being their Alpha, is proud of them. He loves each of them in his own quiet ways, has always seen them as his siblings if nothing else, and they’ve had each other’s backs throughout the years in more ways than one. Of course, all he wants is their happiness, and seeing them grow up into people capable of not only being civil to one another but working things out in such a way that they can  _ be _ together fills him with pride. It’s a feeling he isn’t used to, one that isn’t normally called to the forefront of his mind because he so commonly deals with people who are beneath him, not smart enough to keep up with him, always failing him.

 

_ Could that be it?  _ He asks himself, frowning down at his bowl.  _ Could I just be lonely? _


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura has to use her nose. Despite having walked these streets more times than she can remember, there have been enough subtle changes to make her wonder if she knows her old home half as well as she believes she does. So she follows her nose, inhales the scent still clinging to the letter she was sent and follows it through the streets. It’s dark, darker than she would have liked, but her flight had been delayed. Nothing to be done about that.

 

She’d called Soichiro once her plane had landed to let him know she was on her way.

 

It would have been easier to make this journey in fur instead of human skin, but the last thing she wants to do is startle the humans roaming the streets and she knows her pack is antsy about her returning considering how abrupt the departure had been. Sighing, she tugs the dark hood of her jacket further around her face, raising the letter in her hand to her nose once again before turning a corner and hurrying down the street. She hasn’t eaten since the flight, but her desire to eat is secondary to her desire to finding Soichiro’s house. Here, further away from town and closer to the more domestic districts, she can find her way more easily. Little has changed here. A couple steps out of her way as she passes and her sharp sense of smell says  _ Beta couple _ without her even having to look in their direction. Betas mating is hardly uncommon in a world where Alphas and Omegas tend to fall into each other’s arms far more often than not.

 

_ I’m close, _ she thinks.  _ Just around this next corner and I should be on the right street. _

 

As soon as she turns the corner, however, she finds herself colliding with someone hard enough to knock them over, swaying on her feet a little. “Hey! Be careful where you’re going.”

 

“I’m sorry!” The familiar voice shakes her out of her annoyance and she blinks; it’s been  _ too long _ but she would recognize her cousin anywhere. “I didn’t mean to run into—”

 

Sakura holds up a hand, and the Omega quiets. Then she leans down, taking him gently under the arms and helping him to his feet. “No need to apologize, Light. It was my fault, too.”

 

He must have hit his growth spurt while he was gone, and his Omega presentation has fully settled in, giving him the softer features and the sweeter scents associated with the perceived gentler of the three werewolf genders. Sakura would have been able to smell him coming if she hadn’t been set on her goal and she chides herself a little for that now as she checks Light over to make sure he isn’t hurt. Not all cultures across the globe are the same, but the vein of  _ protect the Omegas _ had been similar enough that she hasn’t lost the urges yet.

 

“Dad asked me to come meet you to make sure you got to the house okay,” Light says, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, seemingly at ease with an Alpha picking at him to make sure he’s okay. He must be used to it now, of course, because the Alphas of the pack would have been especially protective of their pack Alpha’s precious Omega son. “I didn’t know you were so close, though. I thought you might still be somewhere in town. I was going to sniff you out.”

 

“You are a sweet boy.” Sakura manages a smile for him, pushing her hood back away from her face. “Well, you’ve found me. Should we head back to your house now?”

 

Light’s head bobs automatically. “Absolutely,” he says. “Dinner is on the table waiting.”

 

“Would it be out of line to ask you if you were the one who made it?” Sakura asks as she falls in step beside her younger (and annoyingly  _ taller _ ) cousin.

 

“No.” Light grins at her. “I do a lot of the cooking around the house. It’s not like Sayu can.”

 

Unsurprising, since Sayu had just been presenting as Alpha when Sakura left and so that left an interesting role for Light to fill. She won’t ask, though, would rather see it for herself instead of assuming. Losing his mother had been hard on Light but he had taken over caring for Sayu, probably as a method of coping, especially when his father was gone so often.

 

“Where have you been since you left?” Light asks, elbowing her arm gently.

 

“All over.” It’s an automatic answer and Sakura has to shake herself to answer him properly. “Australia, South and North America, Africa, Europe. I tried to get as far away as possible.”

 

Light hums, and the smile he sends her is soft but warm. “And now you’re home,” he announces, linking his arm with hers. “I’m sorry about your grandmother,” he murmurs, “but I missed you.”

 

Sakura says nothing to that but lets Light hold onto her arm, her mind working over the words, puzzled at the idea she might have been missed. Leaving had been about an act of rebelling against her parents, but she hadn’t really thought about what her cousins might do when she left. After all, they seemed fine. Being missed wasn’t something that factored into her plan.

 

“Well, I don’t anticipate leaving any time soon. Unfinished business and I… Kind of want to rest for a while.” It’s true; as much as she loves traveling, she needs a place to lay low for a while.

 

Light grins. “That’s great! You’ll be just in time for the mating ceremony next month.”

 

The idea is unappealing but Sakura smiles at her cousin just the same. As long as she had been away from Japan, she had been impossible to mate up with anyone else, and the constant moving from place to place kept her relatively safe from the responsibility of having a mate. Maybe she’ll be lucky, and her mate will be somewhere far away from where she is right now.

 

“Is there anyone you’re hoping you get matched with?” she asks him.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Light shrugs, but the faint flush in his cheeks says it all even if he won’t. “I know Kamoda wants Shiori. She likes him, I think? I hope it works out for them.”

 

“Kamoda is your little Omega friend, isn’t he? I think I remember him.” Faintly, she recalls a sweet-faced boy who followed Light around wherever he went. The two had been inseparable.

 

“Yeah! You’ll probably meet him tomorrow if you’re at the house when he comes over because he’s coming by to study.” Light zips up the front of his jacket against a sudden cool breeze; Sakura pulls her hood down again. “Shiori, too, maybe. I don’t think you two ever met each other.”

 

“Probably not,” Sakura admits. She had kept herself away from most other Alphas.

 

In all fairness, it was a pack-sanctioned practice to keep younger Alphas away from each other while their aggression levels rose and their self-control struggled to catch up. Throughout most of her childhood, Sakura had spent time with her Beta and Omega family members instead while her father struggled to teach her how to control her anger so she didn’t want to fight.

 

“It’s right up here,” Light says, pointing to a house just a few meters away, puffing his chest out a little as he does so. “Home sweet home. Do you remember very much about it?”

 

In answer, Sakura shrugs a shoulder, peeking up at her cousin from around her hair. “Bits and pieces,” she says honestly, “but I couldn’t nail down any definite details if you asked.”

 

The house is quaint, warm, and homely. It looks lived-in, as opposed to some houses kept so spotless they almost feel artificial. Sakura tips her head back, scents the air curiously, picks up the scent of food and of the two Alphas who live here. To her relief, her hackles do not rise and no growl bubbles up in the back of her throat. They’re her family, her blood, but she didn’t know if being away from them for so long might have some unintended side effects.

 

Light leads her to the table, an arm around her shoulders. “Dad, Sayu, she’s here!”

 

Sayu bounces up from her seat immediately for a hug and Sakura catches her younger cousin in an embrace without hesitation, surprised at her own immediate warmth. But Sayu had always looked up to her when they were younger, intent on learning as much as she could about being a strong Alpha woman from her, and Sakura had done her best to be a positive influence even as the friction between her and her parents grew. With Soichiro never home and Sachiko having long since passed away, Sakura wanted to let Sayu trail after her, give Light a little time to himself in the process and feel  _ useful _ because seeing her family suffer after her aunt’s death had left her feeling confused and helpless as to how she could possibly help them.

 

She and Soichiro, in contrast, do not hug. He nods to her, and she bows her head in answer, a sign of respect to her pack Alpha. He had reached out to her when no one else saw fit to do so, and she’s grateful for that because at the very least, she does want to be here when her grandmother is laid to rest. Not that she can blame her parents for being unable to contact her, as she kept her location vague at best and bounced from place to place. Still, Soichiro was the one who put forth the effort, something he absolutely did not have to do for her, and she makes a mental note to find a way to repay him later on down the line. There is little she can do until she settles in, but maybe offering to watch after Sayu so Light can breathe will do.

 

“I see Light found you.” Soichiro gestures to the empty fourth seat at the table as his children sit and Sakura takes it, lowering herself into it slowly. “You look much older now.”

 

“It’s been a long time.” She doesn’t know what else to say. Time passed, things happened, and she moved on. If it’s left a permanent mark on her, she hasn’t noticed it that much.

 

Soichiro smiles at her, warm and paternal, and she shifts uncomfortably under the gaze. “It’s good to have you home, Sakura. We weren’t sure we were going to see you again.”

 

_ You weren’t _ is on the tip of her tongue, but she swallows it down as she picks up her chopsticks, shrugging out of her jacket when she registers how warm the room is. It’s the same jacket she left with, the one her grandmother pressed into her arms with the warning that  _ it might be cold where you decide to end up, and you want to be as prepared as you can be for any eventuality. _

 

“Kamoda is coming over tomorrow, if that’s okay,” Light says, swiftly changing the subject, and Sakura smiles gratefully at her cousin as she tucks into her chicken and rice.

 

“He might as well move in, he’s over here so much,” Sayu mumbles, and Sakura smirks a little down at her plate at the words. “Like you two  _ just _ went to the concert and he was here half the day before that, and he spent the last weekend staying over, and the weekend before  _ that—” _

 

“Sayu,” Soichiro says, and the girl stops, pouting at him before going back to her food with a little scowl on her face. “That’s fine, Light, you know I don’t mind when you have him over. Try not to bother your cousin too much, though. I know Kamoda can be excitable at times but I imagine Sakura will be tired from the time zone change. You were in a different time zone, correct?”

 

“I was. It won’t be any trouble, though, I’ve learned to adjust quickly.” Sakura doesn’t go into details about that, picking out a detail from Sayu’s spiel to turn the conversation away from herself. “What concert did your brother go to? Since when does Light like big loud crowds of people?”

 

Sayu leans forward suddenly, gripping Sakura by the forearm, and it would be alarming if it was  _ anyone else, _ but it’s Sayu, so Sakura leans closer to her. “He has a  _ crush, _ ” Sayu confides in her, Light squeaking in protest and immediately shaking his head back and forth. “Oh, ignore him! The poster on his wall says it all. Have you heard of Ichigo Berry? They’re a Japanese pop band.”

 

Sakura raises an eyebrow, because she has. They’d gained international success, fronted by an Alpha woman nonetheless. “I have,” she drawls. “Light, you have a crush on Misa Misa?”

 

“No! It’s not like that.” Light groans, drags a hand over his face. “She’s just… She’s very nice! To all of her fans, and she’s very likable. And Kamoda always gets these great tickets, and—”

 

“You don’t have to explain yourself, you know. We’re not judging you for having a crush on an attractive older Alpha,” Sayu teases, her smile turning more than little wicked.

 

“Stop that, she is not  _ older, _ okay, she’s just…” Light shakes his head and Sakura stifles a giggle against the palm of her hand. “Dad, make her stop! She’s torturing me.”

 

Soichiro shakes his head a little. “Sayu, let your brother eat in peace. You can tease him after dinner.”

 

Light groans, dismayed, while Sayu laughs and snatches a piece of chicken off of her plate with renewed vigor. Silently, Sakura watches the display around bites of food and sips of beer. She hasn’t seen these three interact this way in… Well, in years before she  _ left, _ and then certainly not once she was gone. There had been a disconnect between them. What has changed?

 

“What was traveling like?” Sayu asks, suddenly swiveling toward Sakura again.

 

“Complicated.” Sakura chooses her words carefully, not wanting to encourage anyone in the room to suddenly take off in her footsteps. “It takes a lot of paperwork to travel to some places, and even longer to learn the cultures so you don’t offend anyway accidentally. A lot of work.”

 

“That’s so cool!” Sayu jumps a little in her seat. “I always wondered what it would be like to travel. I’m not going to do it until I find my mate, though. I wouldn’t want to miss them.”

 

“I wouldn’t, either. I know they keep telling us not to get our hopes up, that it takes time, but.” Light shrugs. “I can’t help myself, you know? I just want to know who my mate is going to be.”

 

“Kamoda will get matched up with Shiori for sure,” Sayu choruses, “and I can’t wait to see the look on his face. He’s so  _ cute _ around her, haven’t you seen? And she’s stoic but I know she likes it.”

 

Sakura remains quiet during the talk of finding mates, not willing to divulge she isn’t that interested in it herself even though she knows Soichiro would likely back her up. After all, he hadn’t waited for his, and he and Sachiko had made a happy home and had two beautiful, smart kids out of the deal. Sakura doesn’t even want that, though. She just wants the unrestrained freedom to pull up stakes and escape at a moment’s notice, something she can’t do with a home full of pups.

 

If she ended up matched with someone, she doesn’t know what she’d do, doesn’t know how she’d explain the need to simply turn her back on her home and walk away for another extended, undetermined period of time. She doesn’t even plan to stay here that long in the first place.

 

But seeing her cousins excited makes her smile just the same. Sayu would be a fantastic Alpha, something Sakura had gleaned earlier in their childhood, and she would be partial to someone finally taking care of Light since he spent so much time taking care of his little sister.

 

She picks the plates off of the table when dinner is over and carries them to the kitchen, able to escape attention because her cousins are currently bickering over a movie that had come out. The kitchen isn’t even that far away but it gives her a little space, a little moment to breathe. A short moment, because Soichiro comes to join her a moment later, and she peers up at him. Between his duties as pack Alpha and his work in the NPA, Sakura had spent precious little time with her uncle as a child, captured peeks and glances of him more often than she spoke to him. Her closeness with Light and Sayu happened because her aunt died more than anything else.

 

“They can be a bit much right off the bat,” Soichiro says, keeping his voice pitched low as he comes to help her at the sink. “I don’t eat with them as often as I’d like, and even I know that.”

 

Sakura clicks her tongue off of the roof of her mouth. “They can be, but it’s nice.”

 

“Is it nostalgic at all? Does it bring back memories of when you used to stay over?” Soichiro asks.

 

“In a way, it does.” In more ways than one. “It’s good to see them both so happy now.”

 

Soichiro is quiet for a moment, his face still, before he gradually sighs and nods. “I know what you mean. It took time to get back to this, but I’m glad to have invested the effort.”

 

The conversation feels dangerous so Sakura leaves his words hanging in the area, rinsing the dishes off in silence before loading them into the dishwasher. Light and Sayu have moved their argument upstairs, giving Sakura a moment to study the downstairs floor of the house.

 

“I’m not going to tell you to speak to your parents,” Soichiro informs her when she’s in the middle of examining Sachiko’s photograph, the same one that’s been here since her death.

 

“That’s good,” Sakura murmurs, “because it would be a waste of both of our time.”

 

Soichiro’s hand is heavy when it comes to rest on her shoulder. “I’d like to think I’ve learned a little these last few years,” he says. “Do what you need to do for you. That’s what matters.”

 

It’s a relief that he leaves it there and Sakura continues her exploration of the lower floor of the house before heading upstairs. The voices lead to Light’s room and she stops in the doorway, blinking at the very large poster of Misa Amane above her cousin’s desk.

 

Sayu had been serious, then, and Sakura vaguely recalls the fact that Amane happens to be a member of  _ their  _ pack, hardly a major feat considering just how  _ big _ the Yagami pack has grown. Still, it’s interesting. Misa seems like the exact opposite of what Sakura would have guessed Light liked, loud and bright and colorful, drawing attention wherever she goes. More than once, Sakura had been in a city that hosted one of her concerts. She knows how Amane’s fans adore her.

 

“What are you staring at?” Light asks her, his face suddenly flushing scarlet as his head swivels to the poster. “It’s just a poster. Stop staring like that. It doesn’t mean anything, Sakura!”

 

Sayu bursts out laughing and flops over onto her side where she’s sitting on Light’s bed, curled up into a little ball, hugging herself around the middle. Of course, Light just buries his face in his hands and hangs his head, and though it’s all in good fun, Sakura makes her way across the room to stand behind her cousin’s chair, rubbing soothing circles between his shoulder blades until the tension in his back eases. Not that she has any problem with a little teasing every now and then, and the poster  _ is _ something she would like to make a few jokes about in the future, but Light is gentle, and she doesn’t want to risk him getting worked up over something as silly as a little crush on her first day back in Japan. He peeks up at her through his fingers, then lets his hands drop into his lap and smiles up at her in thanks. At least she’s learned how to be a good Alpha in her travels even if she doesn’t plan on doing much with the information.

 

“I’ve heard a lot about Amane,” she says, perching on the edge of the desk and tucking her hands behind her head. “Nothing bad, of course,” she adds when Light blinks wide doe eyes up at her. “Her fans seems to really like her and everyone who’s met her says she’s a very kind Alpha. I wouldn’t expect anything else out of an Alpha who claims allegiance with our pack.”

 

“Except Sakota,” Sayu spits out, and the way Light’s head jerks at the name makes Sakura frown. She doesn’t even recognize that name. “He’s been bothering Light and Kamoda, and Light, I  _ know _ you said not to make a big deal out of things, but after you hurt your hand—”

 

“Hurt your hand? Excuse me?”  _ Sakota. _ That name would probably be familiar to her if she’d spent any real time with any Alphas who weren’t Sayu but it rings no bells and that frustrates her. Sakura holds out her hand, raising an eyebrow at Light. “Let me see. I spent most of my time away having to take care of myself, I just want to make sure it’s nothing serious.”

 

“It’s just a  _ scrape, _ ” Light insists, but he lays his hand in hers so she can scrutinize the raw skin on the heel of his hand. There’s a little dried blood, too. “Sakota is just a bully. I can handle him.”

 

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say your father doesn’t know who he is or he’d have dealt with him himself.” Anyone who caused Light pain would have been  _ filleted, _ Sakura was sure of it.

 

“He doesn’t and I don’t want him to know. Well, Kamoda doesn’t want him to know. He doesn’t like Sakota, he’s a mean Alpha and he’s scared of what he can do before the pack can actually prove he’s done anything, you know?” Light bites his lip, turns his head down and away, and Sakura can see the stress in the lines of his body. Light  _ wants _ to tell someone, to get help.

 

“He’s disgusting,” Sayu snaps. “Light won’t let me fight him, but I want to. I really  _ want _ to.”

 

“Maybe you will.” Sakura taps her lower lip thoughtfully. “If Light doesn’t mind  _ me _ doing it.”

 

Light swivels around in his chair so fast Sakura almost slips off of the edge of the desk. “You can’t!” He grabs her by the arm, leans into her, and the panic in his scent throws her off. “Kamoda didn’t want me to tell anyone. Sayu only knows because she could smell the blood on my hand.”

 

Sakura sets her jaw; the thought someone in her pack has scared two of the Omegas into silence has her itching to get her hands on this creep. Wring his neck, break a few bones beyond the point of easily healing them, maybe even rip out a few things he doesn’t necessarily  _ need _ to live to teach him a lesson. But the panic in Light’s eyes is louder than her resolve right now and she softens, combing her fingers through his hair until he softens. Upsetting him won’t do her any good, and it won’t convince him  _ or _ Kamoda that there will be no “scene” if she deals with him.

 

She also wants Sayu to help, because the girl is set, and Sakura admires that.

 

“I won’t do anything for now,” she says, “because I haven’t been here. But I can’t promise I’ll keep my hands to myself where he’s concerned if he attempts to harm you in front of me.”

 

Light bites his lower lip but nods. “Okay. That’s fair. He’d probably try to fight you, anyway.”

 

“And he’s lose,” Sayu says. “I bet Sakura has learned all sorts of cool fighting techniques.”

 

“I’ll have to teach them for you so you can protect your big brother until his mate shows up to do it,” Sakura muses, and Sayu squeals, clapping her hands as she sits up.

 

When she’s sure Light is suitably calmed down, when his scent has more or less returned to normal and his muscles are soothed, she takes a seat on the bed next to Sayu and makes herself comfortable while Light and his sister banter back and forth. Every so often, her eyes stray to the poster above Light’s desk, and she wonders what she can remember about Amane herself.

 

“I’d  _ love _ to sweep an Omega off of their feet, I’d be the best Alpha in the world,” Sayu declares, and Sakura forces herself to start listening to the conversation again. “You’ll probably get a strong, handsome Alpha, Light. Someone who can fight off all of the bullies for you.”

 

“I don’t know about that,” Light mumbles, his cheeks flushing a dark pink.

 

“Imagine that,” Sayu says, picking up a pillow to hug to her chest, her voice going soft and wistful, and Sakura finds herself listening even if the topic is of no interest to her. “A beautiful Omega to protect and love and cherish. There are so many  _ pretty _ ones in our pack and some of them, y’know, they flirt with me because I’m a Yagami. I’m just  _ so _ excited to get a mate.”

 

It’s as good a time as any to excuse herself on the premise of heading downstairs and setting up shop on the couch, where she’s going to be sleeping until she figures out an apartment situation. At least, that’s the story she feeds her cousins. She has no idea how long she’s going to be in Japan, but she doubts it’s going to require her to have an apartment. Instead, she might try a little couch hopping until she’s ready to pack up and leave, but she can’t tell them that yet.

 

Soichiro is downstairs when she wanders down, but he pointedly turns away when she changes into the baggy t-shirt and pajama pants she sleeps in. There’s a sheet over the couch cushions, and plenty of pillows, and soft warm blankets for the chilly nights of autumn ahead. By the time she’s finished arranging everything to her liking and settled in, she’s aware of how  _ not _ tired she is, and it has nothing to do with jetlag and everything to do with being in another new place. Fidgeting, she grabs the remote and switches on the news to give herself something to do.

 

“I’m going to have to go into work in the morning,” Soichiro informs her from his armchair, checking the watch at his wrist. “I don’t want to impose on you when you’ve just come home, but I don’t suppose you’d mind keeping an eye on Light and Sayu for me? I know they’re old enough to take care of themselves, but… Well. You know why I’m asking you that.”

 

“Of course.” Sakura has watched them before even though their ages have always been close, and she doesn’t mind now. “Sayu is very ready to be mated off and grown up.”

 

Soichiro’s smile is quick but faint. “She is,” he agrees, “and I thank the gods every day for that. She came out of this with a smile on her face and I don’t think I ever want to see it gone.”

 

“Light did too, for what it’s worth,” Sakura offers. “I know things were tense when I left, but he seems like an entirely different person now. You two must have patched things up?”

 

“We did,” Soichiro confirms. “I work with an Omega. He brought around my way of thinking.”

 

“The NPA finally has an Omega on the force?” There are dozens of other countries that do not coddle Omegas as much as Japan; this is  _ news _ to her. “I’m honestly surprised.”

 

“His name is Tota Matsuda and he’s actually very good friends with Light,” Soichiro says. “You might end up seeing him come around the house, for that matter.”

 

“Light always was very good at making friends,” Sakura murmurs.

 

“He still is.” Soichiro sighs and pushes himself up. “Well, I’ll let you rest. Good night, Sakura.”

 

“Good night. And thank you for letting me stay in your house. I know it must not have been easy. Family or no, we don’t know each other half as well as we used to.” And they likely never will, a simple unintended consequence of the time she spent away.

 

Soichiro pauses in the doorway, then shakes his head at her. “No,” he finally says, “it wasn’t. Whoever you are now, you’re still my niece, still my family. You’ll always be welcome here.”

 

Sakura has nothing to say to that, just turns her eyes to the television screen.

 

The news bores her so she retrieves her phone from her bag and, on a whim, starts picking through social media profiles in an attempt to find the Alpha Light had been talking about.  _ Sakota. _ It’s not an uncommon surname and even narrowing it down to their pack leaves her with plenty of results. She purses her lips, narrows the results down to just people within Light’s age range, and that gives her a single result. Committing the picture on her screen to memory, she makes a mental note to do whatever she has to do to make sure he leaves her cousin alone.

 

Even when the house is quiet, she finds herself too restless to sleep, throwing an arm across her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself. This is home, and even though it is home, it doesn’t feel as much like home as a thousand anonymous beds had. She isn’t as restless as she was on the plane and she’s just about made up her mind to go on a late night walk when a commercial on the television catches her attention, forcing her to crane her neck to stare at the screen.

 

_ The mating ceremony. _ It’s an ad that always runs this time of year, the closer they are to the actual ceremony it increases in frequency. Nothing to sell, of course, just a reminder that those who commune with the gods are doing their level best to match up as many names as possible. Sakura doesn’t put too much stock into the gods these days; if Rem has kept her safe on her travels, then so be it. She doesn’t shame the gods, but she doesn’t bow to them, either.

 

Maybe she can slide out of Japan just before the letters are handed out. The last thing she wants is to end up caught up in some kind of scandal because she walks away from a mate. Yagami Alphas are held in relatively high esteem and she isn’t going to shame her pack name if she can avoid it. Better to leave at the beginning of November before she can be convinced to stay here any longer and avoid the entire fiasco. It’ll be disappointing, not seeing if her cousins are mated off.

 

Resolved to that decision, she turns the TV screen off and closes her eyes, counting down from one hundred as slowly as possible until the numbers blur together in her mind. It had been a trick she learned from her grandmother, something to make the minutes go by faster until her mind finally shut off and allowed her to sleep. And it’s just what she needs, smothering a yawn against the palm of her hand; her arm feels lax, and it takes conscious effort to move it.

  
Deal with Sakota, leave Japan, never worry about a mating ritual again.  _ Sounds like a plan. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a little glimpse into Sakura and just how much being gone has really changed things for her. I love writing about Light and Sayu as adorable siblings, especially their drama dynamic. It was so cute and pure. ;__; We should be getting into Yuki Shien in the next chapter. My favorite cyber hacker with a cream-and-white aesthetic.


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